ILLUSION OF POWER; Africa's Major Problem.
I intend to make this a very short piece, and it stems from my ruminations over the events of the past one week.
I have come to some extent of conclusions which I have deemed myself entitled to by virtue of education, exposure, age and critical analyses.
Beginning in June, 2021, a series of events culminated in the Nigerian government banning Twitter; a microblogging platform which has become the medium by which many Nigerians, albeit the highly educated and vast, expressed themselves. The ban on Twitter, which I do not intend to treat in isolation, got me thinking of the tendency of the average African. My first attempt at explaining the phenomenon of getting power drunk and delusional is the tendency to quickly forget our past as soon as we get what we wanted. We cry, beg, cajole, become humble all to get what we want. If by chance we get it eventually, we bare our fangs.
Our quest for power is predicated on weird oppressive tendencies. Power, as soon as it gets to the hands of the African, the jehovah syndrome in him comes alive. And like King Louis XIV, he would beat his chest and say, ‘Le etat ces moi' meaning I am the state. The village chiefs of the colonial era were the same people that grabbed people’s wives, farms and children for themselves. They turned their people to slaves. Some even saw themselves as gods. When the colonial masters arrived the shores of Africa, it was easy to build on the oppressive systems to colonize the people. People quickly joined the constabulary forces, not for altruism but to wield some sort of primitive and sadistic power over others. I always ask this question. How many European soldiers were among the people that pulled down the walls of Kano, chased Ovoranmwen Nogbaisi out of the Benin Kingdom and all the criminal acts of the Europeans against the African?
During the South African apartheid era, those black soldiers who were brutalizing fellow blacks to please the whites were joyfully doing it. Why, power.
Today, it is commonplace to hear a Nigerian policeman to threaten to shoot a civilian and ‘nothing would happen'. Why? He has the gun. But he only sees the gun and the uniforms as tools of oppression. Walk into an office in Nigeria and even the clerk wants to be seen as powerful. He must be worshipped in a way or he would get angry. When he gets angry, you would never get a result. In the University, the lecturer can make you fail because he doesn’t like your face. There are many things that make the African underdevelopment a special case. It is negative egocentrism. It is always about self worship. We are not only uncaring but dangerously sadistic. We are happy to be worshipped. From Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Gaddafi, Eyadema, Obasanjo, to Buhari, it is clear that African leadership is not about institutions but the man in power. Now, what is bad is the reaction of the people to the matter. It is puzzling to see people arguing in favour of bad leadership because of tribe or religion. The King’s lieutenants are perhaps worse. They lack the courage to tell the King when he is wrong. They smile and try to outdo each other in their bid to please their master.
That brings me to the Twitter ban in Nigeria. Does it mean everyone that works with the president of Nigeria sees this ban as right? The supporters of Buhari’s ban on Twitter will still come on Twitter to defend the ban. The big question is, should over 40 million people be stopped from using Twitter because President Buhari is offended by Twitter?
This things are quite intriguing. Few Nigerians would ever think of coming close to the President of Nigeria and none will ever imagine slapping him like it was done to Macron. Why? The Presidents of Nigeria, military and civilian, have always been surrounded by overzealous men whose eye service can only help make the president infamous.
We need to start rethinking leadership in Africa. Like Plato said in The Republic, "only the philosopher should be King". It will save us a lot of stress. A philosopher would think of the transience of power. He would see power as a means to an end, not an end on itself.
We need to start thinking. The duty falls on the elite, educated, I mean, to start educating the people on what constitutes leadership. Africa has had too much of power misuse to the detriment of her people. It is time to change the thinking.
Alex Agbo is a writer and researcher based in Lagos.
It's quite sad what bad has been befalling the masses of the nation nigeria.starting from the governance who only are concerned by their self interest in particular and,the welfare of the children in general.in addition to say the colonial masters has influenced us into these way of maltreatment by their style of colonialism is half baked.alex,am of the opinion that if colonialism has been on since 1800 and abolished here ,and we got independent since October 1 1960,then my humble author it's clear that we should have been able to restructure our own since 62 years ago.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of the fact that it's the willingness of the past and present leader and even the future one to deform whatever profile it's left in the good of this great country.Niq considering the consequences of the impact of the poor govennace on the part of the citizens .the once obedience citizens have now provided a way in giving there own part to the brutality done by these leaders by forming groups like nigerdelta militancy and,government called them millitants or pirates.also Boko Haram and people called them terrorists.it all has resulted from the falurw by the government.am throwing it to that no one is letting his child to go out this independent day to celebrate Nigeria because the anger has erroded.thanks Usman Mohammed
But we haven't been able to outgrow the colonial mentality. You know why?
DeleteWe relish suffering both for ourselves and for others.
Mr Alex,thank you for taking your time to zero in on the leadership cum followership conundrum in Africa, especially in our country,Nigeria. Whenever I ponder on the paradoxical conundrum of the abysmal level of development and the excruciating poverty amidst abundance of natural wealth and intellectual prowess bestowed on us, I remember the hitherto contemptuous but apt description of the African man by Lord Lugard in his book, The Dual Mandate. Hear him, "...two traits characteristic of the African native are his lack of apprehension and LACK of ABILITY to VISUALISE THE FUTURE. In character and temperament, the typical African of this race-type is a HAPPY, thriftless, EXCITABLE PERSON, LACKING IN DISCIPLINE and FORESIGHT". I tender no rebuttal to this as an apt description of most of our people in the choice of our leaders at heart and at the polling booth. Lord Lugard continues in his description,"... NATURALLY COURAGEOUS,and NATURALLY COURTEOUS and POLITE, FULL OF PERSONAL VANITY, WITH LITTLE SENSE OF VERACITY,fond of music and LOVING WEAPONS AS AN ORIENTAL LOVES JEWELLERY. HIS THOUGHTS ARE CONCENTRATED ON THE EVENTS AND FEELINGS OF THE MOMENTS, and HE SUFFERS LITTLE FROM THE APPREHENSION FOR THE FUTURE OR GRIEF OF THE PAST. HIS MIND IS FAR NEARER TO THE ANIMAL WORLD THAN THAT OF THE EUROPEAN OR ASIATIC, AND EXHIBITS SOMETHING OF THE ANIMALS' PLACIDITY". Do you contest this as one of the problems of most of our people? Adding to his disturbing but incontrovertible description, Lugard says, "...is CONSPICUOUSLY DEFICIENT IN THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL ALIKE OF MEN AND BUSINESS. HE LOVES THE DISPLAY OF POWER, BUT FAILS TO REALISE ITS RESPONSIBILITY". Don't this describe most of our people in leadership positions? I, without fear of contradiction, agree that these, amongst others, are responsible for the disturbing political and economic crises in this clime. Whenever I ponder on this, I rhetorically ask myself, "what's wrong with us"? - Israel Peter, Lagos
ReplyDelete